Category: Language

An audible or visible letter shape or speech sound structuring of phonological, syntactic, and semantic integrity which can communicate thought as well as affect. Inner language is an internalized language form to prioritize syntax and semantics.

The governing body of the American democracy is the Congress. It comprises the Senate and the House of Representatives. It is located in the Capitol Hill, showed in the picture above.

Many researchers derive democracy from ancient Greece. How could we compare ancient Greece and modern America? Ancient Greeks actually developed a proto-democracy: they happened to have kings and queens, depended heavily on military leaders and bequeathed elitism. America is a democracy. There have been no kings or queens of the USA. The head of the state is the President. The President resides in the White House.

Both the Congress and the White House are in Washington D.C. that is, the city named Washington in the District of Columbia. Washington D.C. is the capital of the USA.

District Columbia is on the American East Coast.

The state of Washington is on the West Coast.

We can get maps of the USA at the National Atlas website, NationalAtlas.gov.
We usually tell the name of our location along with the name of the state, if we give our address in America.

Washington state got its name after George Washington, the first American president. The state is the only American state named after a president.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

There are many places named Washington in America. George Washington remains a very prominent figure. He fought for American freedom in the Revolutionary War against England. He was President in years 1789-1797, after the War.

The American Revolutionary War had its written formulation
in the Declaration of Independence.

CLICK TO READ ABOUT THE DECLARATION

The Revolutionary victory brought another historic formulation,
the American Constitution.

CLICK TO READ ABOUT THE CONSTITUTION

American government was built “from scratch” by the Founding Fathers. Some, as Thomas Jefferson, described their perspectives on the State. Elective monarchy patterns as of Poland, for example, did not win ground. Poland was a chronically fallen country. The monarch was a lifetime position, and commoners hardly had civil rights. Hereditary monarchy forms as of England obviously did not offer any better security for the freedom of the people.

The constitutional reallocation of powers created a new form of government, unprecedented under the sun. Every previous national authority either had been centralized or else had been a confederation of sovereign states. The new American system was neither one nor the other; it was a mixture of both.[38]

The “new form of government” is democracy,
only by far more advanced than Greek prototypes.

Without a piece of thought about language form, we could not learn any language. Let us think what language form is. Different languages have different ways to name objects of thought. For example, we can say a dog in English. In German, we can say ein Hund. In French, we can say un chien. In Greek, we could say σκυλος. In Russian, we could say собака.

All these words have different forms, but they refer to or indicate the same object that we name a dog in English.We may use word forms in more than one sense. In the picture above, we can see Jemma’s dog. We would not have Buddie for a hot dog (!)

A cat in English can be eine Katze in German. It can be un chat in French. A cat can be γάτα or γάτος in Greek. It can be кот in Russian.

A chat can be a conversation, in English. A gat can be a channel or passage. Kot can be a Yeniseian language. Language forms happen to differ. Language forms also happen to be very similar. We always need to know the language and the context, to see what the language form denotes: a picture of a cat is not a cat.

Language form is always a word form. In language psychology, we have “body language” for a figure of speech. There is no language without syntax. Our bodies could not work for syntax (!)

We can use virtual words, to work on language form. Invented or virtual words are closest to non-existent words. They have word shapes, but they have no meaning. They can help exercise syntax. Children invent words spontaneously, to practice language.

Exercise 4. Let us try some travel in our minds. We can use exercises 1 – 3. Let us take our short mind journey in stages. We all have own inner language, the language of our thought.

A. First, let us think how long we could stay without thinking. We may happen to hear or even say that someone is not thinking. This is yet only a saying, something nobody can mean literally. In reality, nobody can “stop” his or her mind, even for a minute.

B. Let us fix our visual focus on a single thing — a teacup, a pencil, the apple in the image above? Let us try to think about our object only and not anything else. We can use a wristwatch to see how long we cope.

C. Let us close our eyes and try not to think absolutely anything. The watch will tell us if we really can do this.

D. Let us think in what language we think and how we think. Do we think in entire words? Could our thoughts be only pictures?

E. Let us go back to exercise 1. We can say out our answers to exercise 1. Whether multilingual or monolingual, we think in English words. We visualize spellings, that is, we imagine we write the words. We do the same for exercise 2. If we have done the exercises already, we do not look up the answers.

F. We read exercises 1 and 2 again, and try to “see” and “say” our answers in our thoughts strictly. Then, we write the answers on a spare piece of paper. We do exercise 3 as well. We do not even whisper (!)

In the beginning, we might feel it is really an effort to “discipline” ourselves and consciously direct own thinking. It is essential that we try. “Saying” or “writing” in our thoughts before spoken or written activity can make our language habits much stronger.

We humans naturally have inner language. For example, silent reading is faster than reading out. This is inner language to facilitate the process. It is not entire words or even speech sounds. It has only traceaspects of written or spoken language.

Inner language is the highly advanced way for our human brains to correlate language knowledge and skills. We do not know a language really, if it does not belong with our inner ability. Importantly, we can exercise to augment our inner intellectual powers.

Modal Expression, especially the Interrogative or Negative, can give us some trouble, unless we approach the matter as science in a field: we analyze the molecules, see how they are doing, and make a model.

The form SHALL NOT may imply a conclusion, a decision ― more often in British English than in American, however. American English has the Modal WILL for resolves. The Modal CAN attracts the particle NOT directly. They become one word, CANNOT. We may come upon the form CANNOT in historic texts, as the Gettysburg Address.

President Abraham Lincoln gave the speech at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1863. The form “can not” is rarely used today. Feel welcome to read the Address as well as to do the voluntary extra practice.

In the Affirmative, MUST NOT can mean that something is forbidden or strongly discommended. NEED can take on the regular negative. The auxiliary is the verb to do.

68. We DONOT NEED tomemorize dictionaries.

We can use the short form DON’T, when our contexts are not formal.
68a. We DON’T NEED tomemorize dictionaries.

NEED can take a Modal negation, too. The Modal form may be more emphatic.

68b. We NEEDN’Tmemorize dictionaries.
(There is definitely no need to memorize dictionaries.)

HAVE TO takes the regular negative.

69. We DONOT HAVE TOmemorize dictionaries.
69a. We DON’T HAVE TO memorize dictionaries.

Our paths can diverge for NEED in the auxiliary PAST.

70. You DIDN’T NEEDtomemorize this.
(Something didn’t need to be done and it was not done.)

71. You NEEDN’T HAVEmemorized this.
(You did, but you COULD HAVEleft it alone ― the thinking is about a hypothesis.)

Let us tackle the Interrogative. This is the Modal to move here. Chapter 5 shows Inversion, along with the Negative Interrogative.

72. WeCANwork a lot.CANwework a lot?

73. WeMAYwork a lot.MAYwework a lot?

74. WeWILLwork a lot.WILLwework a lot?

75. WeSHOULDwork a lot.SHOULDwework a lot?

76. WeOUGHT TOwork a lot.OUGHT we TOwork a lot?

77. WeSHALLwork a lot.SHALLwework a lot?

78. WeMUSTwork a lot.MUSTwework a lot?

In Negative questions, the linguistic chemistry may depend on the form we use, short or full.

79. CANweNOTwork a lot?
79a. CAN’Twework a lot?

80. MAYweNOTwork a lot?
80a. MAYN’Twework a lot?

81. WILLweNOTwork a lot?
81a. WON’Twework a lot?

82. SHOULDweNOTwork a lot?
82a. SHOULDN’Twework a lot?

83. OUGHTweNOTTOwork a lot?
83a. OUGHTN’TweTOwork a lot?

84. SHALLweNOTwork a lot?
84a. SHAN’Twework a lot?

In questions, MUST NOT may ask about the proper course of things.

85. MUSTweNOTwork a lot?
85a. MUSTN’Twework a lot?

HAVE TO takes the regular Negative Interrogative.

86. DOweNOTHAVE TOwork a lot?
86a. DON’TweHAVE TOwork a lot?

Let us catch on to the Modal NEED in the grammatical PAST. It behaves more and more like a regular verb, in contemporary American.

87. DIDyouNOTNEEDtowork a lot?
87a. DIDN’TyouNEEDtowork a lot?

Please compare,
88. NEEDN’TyouHAVEworked a lot?

Expression 88 would be so rare that an American might consider it incorrect. Why is this? Asking questions involves making hypotheses. Unless we ask a question for no reason or purpose and expect no answer at all, we make our questions thinking about some PROBABILITY at least. Beside inversion, we can use the question mark or intonation, to make a question.

Let us regard language economy. In a language information pool, we may not need to provide information more than once.

86a. DIDN’Tyou NEED / HAVE TOwork a lot?

An American could consider an alternate incorrect,
86b. *MUSTN’TyouHAVEworked a lot?

NEED and MUST express a high degree of CONTINGENCY or CERTAINTY. Hypotheses with them might vary from those with other Modals: so many things SHOULD BE DONE and they never are (!)

With high CONTINGENCY or CERTAINTY, we can net the hypothetical time: we have a strong hypothesis in the Modal alone. Here is our model (click to enlarge).

Ten minutes can be a very short while, to think about a nap. It would be very long, to think about a break in conversation. We can try with a friend, over the phone: we agree to remain silent for 10 or 20 seconds, and our friend does not look at a watch. On another occasion, our friend does the thing for us. Though we would have looked at our watch before, the time is most likely to feel longer.

Language learners vary in strategies. Some would take a longer time to put thoughts together, and allow for breaks in conversation. Some would remain a colloquial level of language, to avoid breaks. Some learners choose to practice, to be efficient with regard to time as well as style and correctness.

Exercise 63. We do not have to comprehend the word “if” as belonging with Form Relativity only. We can change “if” for “whether”, in contexts to tell about circumstances or results rather than provisions or causes. We have the “if” underlined, in the exercise.

We can use abbreviated auxiliaries, to practice spoken comprehension. We also can reorder the phrases as well as use Inversion, for style and flexibility.

Example: She didnotknowif she was right.

Answer: She didnotknowwhether she was right.

Example: If he hadn’tbeen extremely busy, he would’veremembered about the coffee.

Answer: Hadn’t he been extremely busy, he would’ve remembered about the coffee.

Alternately: Had he not been extremely busy, he would haveremembered about the coffee.

1. If she weren’treading the calligraphic, she’dbesleeping.

2. If he was writing, reading, or talking, the colloquium had him busy all the time.

3. If he hadn’theard from Bill then, he’dbewriting him a letter now.

4. If it weren’t such a good quality, she’dthink it a mere prank.

5. If it sustains the quality throughout, it’llcompare with the Bodleian Horace.

6. They will / cansee in the library, if they get the Medici print.

7. If it weren’t so conscientious, he’dthrow it in that Babbitt’s garden next door.

8. If it proves necessary, she’llhave it carbon dated.

9. If it is as good as it looks, it mightbe of worth even as just a calligraphic.

10. If it hadn’t beendeprived of the front matter, it wouldbe easier to find out who made it.

Further journey brings the Causative and the Passive, our “have it carbon dated”, in example 8, and “had been deprived”, in example 10.

Exercise 64. We can use the word “if” also in the sense of the word “when”. Grammatically, it is up to our choosing, if we speak the premise or the result first.

The exercise is not grammatically difficult. Let us think how we would say it, as in exercise 33 and exercise 34.

Example: IF you provision in the condition, may stipulation precede in position.

Answer: May stipulation precede in position, WHEN you provision in the condition.

1. You’llmake your adage suit,IF you toot the root in the foot.

(We can look up word stress patterns in dictionaries, to emphasize them by matching).

2. IF the comma won’t curse or ban, a dot mightbid the span.

3. IF the verb doesnot adjust, the pronoun must neverentrust.

4. IF a Modal willemend, diction cancommend a robust complement.

5. IF meanings collate and debate, may syntax negotiate.

Exercise 65. It is most often up to ourselves to decide, whether to mediate our language structures with Modals at all. The arrow cues show the target time extent.

Example: If there 1. (be) other Little Tinies, the Little Tiny 2. (canbe) one of many similar beings.

Answer: If there were other Little Tinies, the Little Tiny couldbe one of many similar beings.

Alternate: If there are other Little Tinies, the Little Tiny is /can / couldbe one of many similar beings.

A. “If I 3. (be) only one of many Little Tinies, I 4. (be) actually a Little Tiny”, the Tiny hypothesized. She 5. (be) strictly an inch tall and she 6. (want) a measure for her dreams. “A cubit 7. (be) the length of your forearm right to the tip of your middle finger”, she 8. (reckon).

B. However, a cubit 9. (be) factually about 17.5 inches. “If you 10. (have tothink) about an inch to think about a cubit”, she went on hypothesizing, “my cubit N11. (can be) a cubit, as I am just an inch tall. Still, I 12. (have) my length”.

C. She 13. (visualize) a cube. “If you really 14. (need toconsider) measures, you 15. (figure) on a cube of a dream”, she made another hypothesis. Nothing was positively two-dimensional. “Even if you 16. (reason) on your forearm simply, you 17. (willmake) it out for three-dimensional”, she 18. (speculate).

D. “If nothing 19. (be) truly two-dimensional, dreams 20. (be) non-two-dimensional, too. You 21. (canhave) a cube of a dream, if you 22. (want) to tell whether your dreams are big or small?” She 23. (start) to entertain the theory.

E. “Then, if you 24. (agree) to a measure, you 25. (canadd up) cubes with dreams like with anything else. Well, but a Thumbelina 26. (canhave) a cube of a dream, if cubes 27. (be) cubits big, too?” The Tiny 28. (sigh) with uncertainty.

Exercise 66. Let us be back with the grain of sand. The word “if” is not the only word to help make hypotheses. Let us try the words “as” and “when”. They can work as conjunctions. “As” would agree with the premise. “When” would allow an opposite sense. We can know the study of meaning as semantics.

Example: “If I N1. (be) a grain of sand, I 2. (be) more prone to be of a like mind with a westerly wind”, the grain of sand thought.

Answer: “If I werenot a grain of sand, I wouldbe more prone to be of a like mind with a westerly wind”, the grain of sand thought.

A. “If wits N3. (be) a real thing, you 4. (canevade) the matter of their shape”, the grain of sand deliberated. The grain of sand did eight hours of thinking about composite things a day. As the eight hours N5. (be) immaterial, the faculty the grain of sand employed during the time N6. (canbe) immaterial either, it concluded.

B. Obviously, the faculty you used to ponder on composite things 7. (have tobe) the reasoning faculty. Wits, whatever their quality, 8. (have to be) of a shape, the grain of sand felt.

C. Therefore, it 9. (be) uncanny for a grain of sand and a wind to be of the same mind. “A thought 10. (canbe) genuinely the same, when the wits 11. (be) not?” Possibly, asking the wind its opinion N12. (candecide) on the issue, the grain of sand 13. (analyze).

D. Alternately, the phrase “the same thought” 14. (maybecome) just a way to speak about potentially very dissimilar things. Still, the phrase “the same thought” truly existed and had its real shape. “What 15. (happen), if you 16. (translate) it to another language?”

E. The grain of sand (wonder) for five minutes. The phrase sure (maychange) in its look. Then, the term “shape” N(willbe) as easy to comprehend. “The same thought (willrender) the same shape of mind if you (give) it the look of another language?” The grain of sand immersed in thought for another five minutes.

Exercise 67. We can join Jim Colderstone in winter Alaska. Alaska has the largest population of bald eagles in the USA. We can mark Modality with the letter M. We do not have to use a Modal everywhere the letter M is. We can use more than one Modal where the letter M is, too. We are in the grammatical PRESENT. We include Expression.

The exercise is open-ended: no one can or may prescribe a natural language.

When Jim ran into the office (Chapter 6. The Present Perfect or the Past Simple), Jill was not there. She left him a letter, before going on her Paris vacation. We cannot demand insight into private correspondence. The exercise only renders the message, in a mystified way. With friends, we can try to guess what Jill might have written after a minor discord.

Example: You MN1. (have) the ambition to be the colder stone if you M2. (be) in the winter Alaska yourself.

Answer: You wouldnothave the ambition to be the colder stone if you couldbe in the winter Alaska yourself.

A. It M3. (be) enough that you 4. (go) EPIC terrestrial and you M5. (see) that the temperatures 6. (favor) a Colderstone for the role.
(We can go epic.noaa.gov/epic, if we want to go EPIC terrestrial ourselves.)

B. Although you MN6. (go) to Alaska to do STEM paperwork only, you M7. (like) the ridges of new green and the cool breeze in a shiny spring Alaskan morning.
(We can go nsf.gov for STEM programs.)

C. Space and time M8. (become) a source of perplexity if you 9. (think) about times outside the present. As for the talk, if you 10. (look) to word form alone, you M11. (resolve) there are too many forms with too little sense.

D. Humans MN(be) logic strictly. And temperature, for the senses to come together well, MN12. (be) the source for all feeling.

E. If they N13. (have) a place in a human discourse, words MN14. (tell) anything exact. The place yet 15. (be) only hypothetical. This 16. (be) the human person to make language possible.

Let us take our story generally to APAST time extent.

Naturally, you would nothave the ambition to be the colder stone, if you couldbe in winter Alaska yourself.

Alternate: Naturally, you would not havehad the ambition to be the colder stone, if youcould havebeen in the winter Alaska yourself.

The alternate can “anchor” our discourse in a specific time span and geographical place. The time-anchored alternate would say, “there, then, that time, that winter: THE Alaska”.

*****

FROM THE KEY: Grammar resources vary so vastly in guidance on Modal verbs and the Conditional or Unreal Past that we may feel we need a comparison on language forms. When we work out own, independent perspectives, we become able to use our language logic consistently. We need to be consistent, to be correct.

A.
MODAL MEDIATION in the PRESENT
It may / canbe enough that you go EPIC terrestrial and you may / can see that the temperatures wouldfavor a Colderstone for the role.

FORM RELATIVITY in the PRESENT
It could / might / wouldbe enough that you went EPIC terrestrial and you would / couldsee that the temperatures might / wouldfavor a Colderstone for the role.

2ND CONDITIONAL REFERENCE
If you went EPIC terrestrial, you would / couldsee that the temperatures might / wouldfavor a Colderstone for the role.

NO MODAL MEDIATION or FORM RELATIVITY in the PRESENT
It is enough that you go EPIC terrestrial and you see that the temperatures favor a Colderstone for the role.

ZERO CONDITIONAL REFERENCE
If / When / As you go EPIC terrestrial, you see that the temperatures favor a Colderstone for the role.

MODAL MEDIATION in the PAST.
1. It was enough that you went EPIC terrestrial and you couldsee that the temperatures favored a Colderstone for the role.

ZERO CONDITIONAL in the PAST.
It was enough that you went EPIC terrestrial and you saw that the temperatures favored a Colderstone for the role.

*****

Please mind, our Relativity is linguistic. Auxiliary time is relative to the main or head time. When we make hypotheses, we shift word form in a principled way: past forms tell about the present, present forms about the future, and we use anchors to tell about the past. The shift shows a relative reference because it is regular.

*****

Feel welcome to continue with the language story in Part Three (!)

Part Three of the language voyage can bring

Jill’s library in plain canvas ― the speech part and the determiner manner and matter (it is not realistic to hope to memorize all uses of the articles, a, an, or the, and the generative way remains correct, as above);

Chantelle’s travel to the Book Cliffs ― verbal nouns and other ways of syntax to the notional time;

Reported speech, the Passive, and many more components of our language landscape.

Envisioning language study as travel in a dimension, we could think about virtual words as guarding us against steep slopes. Let us warm up.

Exercise 60. We practice targeting time extents. We can use another virtual word, thimo. We can give it the gillyflower color, as for bimo.We may abandon the invention later. Our thimo has the sound “th” (ɵ). Learners happen to substitute or mistake it for other speech sounds.

We can practice our tongues. We may pronounce bimo [bImoU], with the tip of the tongue pressed against our lower teeth. Then, we can try phimo [fImoU], with the tip of the tongue against the lower teeth, still. Keeping our tongues firm at lower teeth may take conscious control.

After, we can say thimo[ɵImoU], with the tip of the tongue at the upper teeth. We do not press the tongue against the teeth. We let a little air between.

This can help us become more aware and in control of our tongues.

Virtual words can help focus on syntax. We can do the exercise only in our thought. Even if we choose to write, we remember to conceptualize, as in the mind practice of chapter 1.2. We regard our linguistic Form Relativity.

Example: If you thimoed, you bimoed.(The forms “thimoed” and “bimoed” show there is no form relativity.
The cue shows our target grammatical time is the FUTURE.)

Answer: If you WILLthimo, you WILLbimo.

1. If you thimo, you bimo.

2. If you WEREABLE TOthimo, you WEREABLE TObimo.

3. If you thimoed, you WOULDbimo.

4. If you HADthimoed, you WOULD havebimoed.

5. If you thimo, you WILLbimo.

6. If you thimoed, you WOULDbimo.

7. If you HADthimoed, you WOULD havebimoed.

8. If you thimo, you WILLbimo.

Exercise 61. Let us try “jumping” time extents as in exercise 55 and regard Expression. We provide the arrow cues for the target grammatical time. Our “jumping” symbols are,

“One time extent forward”

“One time extent backward”.

Let us mind to say “thimo”: if we want to thank someone, we’d better not tank him or her. We may compare a few more examples: than (a comparative), tan (brown skin color to result from sunbathing), these (a demonstrative), tease (to irritate), thin (not thick, heavy, or broad), tin (a metal).

Let us try to think about language information pools more: we do not rigorously follow syntax; we try to be flexible.

In questions, we can ask about the result first.

Example: If you (PREMISE)thimoed, you (RESULT or CONSEQUENT)bimoed. {?}

Answer: DID you bimo, if you thimoed?

We are going to preserve the language information, asking about the premise first, as well.

Example: If you (PREMISE)thimoed, you (RESULT or CONSEQUENT)bimoed. {?}

Answer: DID you thimo, if you bimoed?

We can be specific about our Interrogative Expression and place the question mark. We can start using our cues and symbols.

We may combine language features. Unlike in real life, the exercise provides brief stretches of language and mapping aspects. Unlike in real life, we can take as long as we care and we never need to feel stressed. As in real life, we may think about the examples as a story.

We can be back with someone we met in exercise 37. Ms. Seges also appeared in Part One of our grammar course. We did not get to know her name then. We were learning about personal pronouns. If we have read the note for exercise 56 in the key (and in subchapter 9.4., Modal relativity practice), we know that “we” can be a personally neutral figure of speech (I do not presume you remember all detail).

The same note mentions figurative thinking. We do not claim our story to be true. We can imagine Ms. Seges is home, in her study. Mr. Seges ― we never met him yet ― returns from a literary meeting.

“This looks like a calligraphic copy of Vespucci’s letters. It was slipping out of our backyard hedge, no covers or front matter.”

“Hadn’tit suretaken a lot to make such a book, I’d suspect that Babbitt next door. Bill once wrote me the book I waslooking for was as likely to beobtained as a calligraphic of Vespucci’s originals. It was completely a legend, he checked with the Freeman’s.”

“About legends, my favorite Chicago blend is . . .”

“Honey, I would haveremembered about the coffee; but I was so preoccupied…”

“I’mputting that with my records. The coffee is notcompletely a legend. It exists somewhere in Chicago.”

*****

Let us mind our rich text interpretation, as for exercise 55, in subchapter 9.4. Babbitt is a character by Sinclair Lewis, an American writer. The Freeman’s are a famous auction house to specialize also in books. Amerigo Vespucci described his voyages in letters to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici. Calligraphic copies were still quite a habit for most important documents, in Vespucci’s times.

*****

Not only books and their covers could be stylish. Inversion can be a matter of style. It does not indicate a question in the pattern “Hadn’tit sure taken a lot (of work)”, above.

Relative forms also allow “were” (the past plural of the verb to be) with I, he, she, and it. We can say, “If Iwere, If he / she / itwere…” to hypothesize generally about the PRESENT and now. Forms as “If I / he / she / itwas…” may sound more particular, they are yet up to personal choosing. “Were” is more widely acknowledged, especially in school contexts.

Formal American English uses full forms of verbs. Let us take it into account.

We have the value {IN} next to the verb to go with the Progressive. The target grammatical time is indicated. We can stay {ON} our human and logical extents for qualities, hearts and minds, and ignore Progressive cues.

Answer: If he hadnotbeen extremely busy, he would haverememberedto bring that brand coffee.

We can ignore the marker {IN}. We remember our syntactic HAVE becomes an anchor, compare subchapter 10.1. Our arrow cues would be as follows.

For Modal patterns with the feature {IN}, we can resolve simply to remember we do not say “maying” or “musting”, and the feature {IN} has to come with syntactic expansion. Our arrow cue may remain as for real-time, non-perfect progressive patterns. The cues are ancillary, and we need to mind the head time anyway, with Modal verbs. If to make arrow cues of another color, is up to individual choosing. We also can add the letter M to structures we want mediated with Modal verbs.

Please think if to use FORM RELATIVITY in example 2. A non-relative form will show a number of activities different from the relative. We can use Modals other than WILL, too.

1. {PRESENT}, she, Nread{IN} the calligraphic, she, sleep{IN}.
(She worked on her new book all night.)

2. {PAST}, he, Nwrite{IN}, he, read or talk{IN}.
(The colloquium was very engaging.)

Our experience with Modal verbs initially might be that “time is short”, especially when we speak. Only good, flexible linguistic habits can make us feel more comfortable.

Exercise 53. We can warm up with virtual words and arrow cues. Let us mind the arrow cues indicate the target time, not the verb form.

For all of this exercise, our Modal time frame remains open (chapter 9.2). We mind the Modal relativity: we can use PRESENT as well as PAST Modal forms, for the grammatical target PRESENT.

Example: may

Answer: may bebimoing, or

might bebimoing

Exercise 54. Let us try real verbs. We can use exercise 53. Let us remember about classic grammar stative verb use. The use refers to existence (view in the American Heritage dictionary), and derives from the Latin word “sisto,” to place; compare Perseus word study tool. In our grammar, we use the variable {ON}, for the stative use, also if it takes ignoring other cues.

As in exercise 53, the relative time frame remains open and we mind the Modal relativity. Real-time also requires that we consider how probable something is. We have our cubes here, for guidance.

Example: read,may

Answer: may bereading, ormight bereading

Exercise 55. Let us try “jumping” time extents. We mark the relative frames and target time, for underlined items. Our cues mean,

“One time extent forward”

“One time extent backward”.

Example: In Washington D.C., you WILL BEABLE TOvisit the Library of Congress.

Answer: In Washington D.C., you can / mayvisit the Library of Congress.

1. After a day of a hop-on and hop-off the Washington trolley, you MAYfeel you should havebought a two-day ticket.

2. In Washington, we wererenting right on the Potomac. The area was lovely. You just HAD TOtake a walk along the river.

3. You MUSTbook your seats in the Lisner Auditorium. The American Air Force jazz ensemble mayperform live.

4. You NEED TOgiveup on wading in the waterfalls of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Park. It isnotallowed.

5. You MAYenter the National Gallery of Art on first-come basis.

*****

From the key: natural language happens to involve rich text interpretation. The “Washington trolley” will be the Washington trolley tour, for example. Kids as well as adults, students as well as teachers, use the rich interpretation quite often. It would be cumbersome to provide all details every time we speak, whatever the language.

Example 1 has the Modal phrase “MAYfeel” for a nodal reference. The phrase “SHOULD havebought” is a subordinate. We can have a peek at MAY for the PRESENT and FUTURE, in chapter 10.1.

We can view HAVE TO also with a real-time closed frame and the Infinitive. A phrase as, “We had to haveworked hard”, could tell about a fact, not a hypothesis or opinion.

Many grammars will tell we can use BE ABLE TO rather than MAY, when we refer to the FUTURE. However, if we resolve on example 3 as, “the ensemble will beable toperform”, we imply the ensemble might have difficulty playing. The matter here is about probability. We can think about MAY with an open relative frame, to suggest prospect: “(Tomorrow) the American Air Force jazz ensemble MAYperform live”.

In example 5, we talk about permission. We may choose to say, “We willbeable to / We will beallowed to…”

Exercise 56. We can try “targeting” time extents. Our target time extent is the one in which we “land”. Let us be flexible, especially with examples 3 and 5.

A target can be a goal to achieve. Linguistics uses the term “target” for goals in language and speech. Our articulatory targets, for example, are speech sounds as we intend them.

Telling language styles is part every language learning, and comes early in life. The story here has dialectal American English. We cannot follow this style in formal writing. The language forms yet are not erroneous, as they are consistently dialectal. Further, it does not mean the stories do not have grammar cognitive variables. We can think about them, reading.

Example: IthoughtIWOULDbehave a while if ICOULD.

Answer: IthinkIWILLbehave a while if ICAN.

I thinkIWOULDbehave a while if ICOULD.
(We mind the Relativity.)

1. But how CAN wedo it if wedon’tknow what itis?

2. The widowrung a bell for supper, and youHAD TOcome to time.

3. And more ― they‘VE GOT TO (HAVE TO)waltz that palace around over the country wherever youwant it, youunderstand.

4. Itfetched us a dollar a day apiece, all the year round ― more than a bodyCOULDtell what to do with.

5. Well, three or four months run along, and itwas well into the winter, now. Ihad been to school most all the time, and COULDspell, and read, and write just a little, and COULDsaythe multiplication table up to six times seven is thirty-five, and Idon’treckonICOULD ever get any further than that if Iwas to live forever.

*****

From the key: The phrases “you understand” (example 3), or “I don’t reckon” (example 5), tell the time of the narrator, the character to tell the story. Human lives are not just stories, but the narrator time can help comprehend the notional time, the time of the person who speaks. Naturally, there is no universal notional time. We have to learn to keep own notional times. We can have our notional time for our psychological time, too.

Narratives or stories often use the personal pronoun we. In our grammar story, the pronoun we is to help avoid judgmental comment. It is a personally neutral figure of speech. We can discuss language without assuming on me or you.

The phrase “if I was to live forever” is an example of figurative thinking. Chapter 10 has more. Part Three expands on speech parts, as in “three or four months run along”.

*****

Exercise 57. Let us try to choose our Modals. We can stay on associations with Huckleberry for a while.

Example: HeMAY / WILLbe in the woods now.
(I know that he is in the woods.)

Answer: He WILLbe in the woods now.

1. Letus notworry about it. There WILL / CANbe no advantage to it.
(It is certain that there is going to be no advantage.)

2. TheyHAD TO go / MAY HAVE gone out to the woods.
(The woods are not the only way.)

3. YouSHOULDlearn / SHOULD HAVElearned the way through the woods.
(Now is the time to learn.)

4. YouMAY / WILLget lost in these woods.
(It is certain.)

5. TheyHAD TOget / MAY HAVEgotten lost in the woods.
(We are looking for them. The only way is through the woods.)

6. YouSHOULDN’T/ CAN’Tget lost in these woods.
(It is impossible. You know the way very well.)

7. HeDIDN’T HAVE TOget / COULDN’T HAVE gotten lost in the woods.
(He knew the way.)

8. TheyMUST HAVE / MAY HAVEgotten lost in the woods.
(They took the way through the woods.)

9. YouMAY / HAVE TOavoid the way through the woods.
(It is not safe.)

10. You WOULD HAVE / SHOULD HAVE gotten lost in the woods.
(That was certain.)

*****

From the key: In example 4, the Modal verb WILL tells about CERTAINTY for the PRESENT and the FUTURE. The FUTURE is usually an open context, the way life on Earth has been. We use WILL when we are sure or resolved about something. We may compare example 3 in Exercise 55 and try to avoid the cumbersome, soothsayer style in our English.

*****

Exercise 58. Our story is now about general POTENTIALITY and PROBABILITY, in the grammatical PAST. We do not require an auxiliary time extent. Our relative time frame remains open. We can be back with the dayfly from exercise 43, in subchapter 7.1.

Example: The dayfly (canthink) about matter, without butterflies.

Answer: The dayfly couldthink about matter, without butterflies.

1. The dayfly (consider) it somewhat rude of the butterfly to make reservations on the wings. They (maydiffer), but there (be) no reason for the remark. Anyway, now the butterfly (have tobe) far away, with its wings.

2. The dayfly (start)to think about infinity. If there (be) infinity, the word “infinite” (can) only denote it. You (need) five letters to write the word. The letters and the word (be) undeniably finite.
(NEED can be a head verb. Compare Appendix 1.)

3. There (have to be) some matter to the alphabet, the dayfly thought. Five letters (canmake) an eight-letter word (!) You just (needtocompose) them. The number of possible words you (canmake)with the alphabet (have tobe) innumerable. That (be) the closest approximation to infinity the dayfly (mayenvision).

4. Letters also (canexpress) numbers. The dayfly (think) about other alphabets. If there (willbe) anything universal about all letters in the world, that (canbe) the essence of writing. Nothing as universal readily (occur) to the dayfly, however.

From the key: in example 1, the phrase “might differ” tells about holding to an opinion. We can give it an open frame. It is up to our choosing if and what opinions we hold. Further journey has more detail on Modal frames and nodal time.

Exercise 59. The westerly is in the mountains. So far, our Modal time frames were ready for us: we only adapted the verb. Now, we have to decide if we open the frame or close it. Generally, we are in the grammatical PAST. On top of everything, we think about Expression: we learn to manage big, real-life language information pools.

Example: The westerly (cangambol) on the shore a little longer, but it (gather) to go see the future: the mountains.

Answer: The westerly COULD HAVEgamboled on the shore a little longer, but it gathered to go see the future: the mountains.

1. What (willhappen) about the present time ? The westerly (canperceive) something indivisible and intermediate about time. Time (be) in a way continuous. It (have toconsist) of parts, however.

2. The present (have toborder) on the past and the future. The present (be) somehow intermediary between the past and the future. However, how long (will) the present (be)? Sometimes, you (canview) the present as lasting as long as a day. Sometimes, it (willlast) a split second.

3. Well, you (can)N(exist) only in the future or only in the past. With this regard, there always (willbe) a present moment that (willbe) the only present. There (willbe)Nanything of the past or the future, in the present?

4. The wester (get) to the mountains. They (be) its present now. The wester (can)N(think) about a more beautiful present. It (need)N the ocean view to see something beautiful any more.

5. How these beautiful mountains (can emerge)? The wester (speculate) if winds (mayshape) part their structure.

*****

From the key: With example 4, if we say the wester “COULDN’Tthink about a more beautiful present”, we place the matter in the mountains. Alternately, if we say the wind “COULDN’T HAVEthought about a more beautiful present”, we make the frame to the time before it came to the mountains, when it was on the shore, in exercise 44.

*****

Grammar books will have much advice on Modal verbs with patterns named the Unreal Past or Conditional. For a comparison, let us try a grammar theory of relativity. Our use of the word “relativity” is not about physics or families. It is linguistic. See chapter 10.

Exercise 39. Let us provide synonyms for the verbs below. Deciding between our variables ON and IN, we can use the Infinitive also with the Progressive. Chapter 2.1 presents the Infinitive. Appendix 1 lays out the basics about verbs.

Example: to think

Answer:ON ― to consider, to believeIN ― to becerebrating, to bepondering

1. to see; 2. to expect; 3. to taste; 4. to feel; 5. to value; 6. to consider; 7. to smell; 8. to prize; 9. to look; 10. to ponder; 11. to mind; 12. to remember; 13. to denote; 14. to import; 15. to touch; 16. to mark; 17. to express; 18. to observe; 19. to figure; 20. to typify.

Exercise 40. Naturally, our answers do not have to be identical. Humans differ in stative verb use (chapter 7). Please try to paraphrase the verbs and tell where we could take the ING, and where we would mostly stay ON our cognitive extents.

1. to hold; 2. to consist; 3. to keep; 4. to appear; 5. to indicate; 6. to argue; 7. to suggest; 8. to signify; 9. to matter; 10. to concern.

Exercise 41. What impressions do you have when you think about advertising phrases as “I’mlovin’ it?”

Exercise 42. We continue comparing the variables ON and IN. Now, we have only part the arrow cues. We can check on using the cues in chapter 5.1. We are staying in the PAST.

The story has a little ambiguity: in everyday circumstances, we may hear or read words we never have come across before. We should not let unfamiliar vocabulary disorient us. We can seek or ask for clarification, on words we do not know. They need not get us lost in grammar generally. Here, we learn to keep our time reference against even unusual wording.

The tale is a little inspired with Aristotle (regarding criticism on Aristotle, feel welcome to the book information) and intended to be mildly humorous. A self-respecting story tells about animals or objects that think and talk, not about humans ascribed animal or thing features. Such is our story. The birds really have different songs.

Example: One late afternoon, the Greater Yellowlegs 1. (hear) the two-note ditty in the crescent near the shore. Cousin Lesser 2. (chirp) mighty out of tune (!)
CUES

Answer: heard:{ON};waschirping:{IN}

A. The Greater 3. (fly) up to the path and 4. (think) about the reason for the ditty. Sure Nature 5. (give) it some melody. Speaking about it in detail yet 6. (canbe) a huge enterprise. The Greater 7. (ponder) on some of the particulars, when he 8. (see) the Lesser Yellowlegs by the seashore.

B. The Lesser Yellowlegs 9. (cantry) the three-note whistle, it N10. (be) in violation of the laws of physics, 11. (argue) the Greater Yellowlegs. The Lesser Yellowlegs 12. (appear) very similar in size. — “Not without a memory aid”, the Lesser 13. (retort). The two-note 14. (be) the only melody he 15. (know) by heart.

D. The uncouth absurd of the situation 21. (consist) in being out of place without moving, the Greater Yellowlegs 22. (declare). The Lesser Yellowlegs 23. (deem) that impossible. One place 24. (involve) one place, however Negative the relation.

E. The two 25. (meditate) steadily when the Lesser 26. (invoke) Probability. Their songs 27. (have) a logical interconnection. Elaborating on the two-note, although not completely out of the question, 28. (chance) common sense.

Exercise 43. We compare the features ON and IN, but with all our time extents (PRESENT, PAST, and FUTURE). As there is more language logic to manage, we have all arrow cues. Our next story is about a creature from Cimmerian Bosporus, the dayfly.

Example: About the summer solstice, dayflies 1. (come) to exist in Cimmerian Bosporus. According to a legend, a dayfly 2. (begin) its life in the morning, and 3. (die) before the second day sunset.

Answer: come, begins, dies;{ON}

A. It 4. (be) early morning. The dayfly 5. (flutter) its wings in the sunrise light. “I 6. (be) a day-fly”, it 7. (think). The spontaneous circumstance 8. (give) it its name.

B. The morning 9. (be) very bright and fresh. The dayfly 10. (wonder) over the water and the air, the green and the colorfulness of vegetation, when it 11. (see) a dry leaf. It 12. (know) that water 13. (come) from the earth and the air. It 14. (cogitate) if dry leaves 15. (belong) with green leaves.

C. It 16. (fly) past a vividly red rose flower when a butterfly 17. (stop) it for a little conversation. “You 18. (seem) to be this most daily of creatures”, the butterfly 19. (say). — “Right, I 20. (name) myself a dayfly”, the dayfly 21. (respond). “Living for a day 22. (form) the essence of my existence. Nothing that 23. (become) can be eternal, anyway.

D. This 24. (be) very interesting”, the butterfly 25. (remark). “I sure also 26. (become).” — “I 27. (think) about it when I 28. (see) that dry leaf over there”, the dayfly 29. (reply). “I 30. (contemplate) if the becoming of dry leaves 31. (happen) along the becoming of the day, dayflies, and … butterflies.

E. The butterfly 32. (disapprove). “I sure N33. (willanswer) this! You 34. (cansee) that we 35. (differ). Our wings 36. (be) dissimilar.” — “Nobody 37. (deny) this”, the dayfly 38. (concede). “It 39. (be) the becoming that I 40. (distrust). This morning 41. (become) broad daylight, and this day 42. (become) a night. However, the day and the night 43. (caninhere) in disparate matters, I 44. (feel). One of them 45. (maybe) the light.” The butterfly 46. (shrug) its wings and 47. (fly) away.

*****

From the key: We can perceive the verb WILL as referring to the PRESENT or the FUTURE.

{PRESENT}
“I sure will not answer this!”
We can make a close synonym, saying,
“I have no wish to answer this.”

{FUTURE}
“This morning will bebecoming broad daylight,
and this day willbecome a night.”
We would make a close synonym, saying,
“This is what isgoing to happen.”

The verb to become has had a role in language history. We can make better acquaintance with it further in the travel. We can interpret the word “day” as 24 hours on Earth, daytime, a time, age, or even an epoch. I hope you do your dictionary work (!)

*****

Exercise 44. We can look to grammatical Time and Expression (we may refer to chapter 5). When we want to deny something, we can use the Negative. In our notes, we can distinguish the Negative with the letter N. When we want to ask a question, we can use the Interrogative. We can distinguish it with the question mark, (?).

First, we can place our story mostly in the PRESENT. We name this manner to tell a story the dramatic narrative. Then, we can take the story to the PAST. This should help us see how our time capacities can work.

Our story can be about the westerly, the kind of wind to happen to rise in oceans. Westerlies can influence the weather. Some scientists have blamed splits in westerly flows for record-breaking cold or hot temperatures. Some observers even suspected extraterrestrial or supernatural influences over the weather, while it was… a westerly.

We have only part the arrow cues. We are exercising them also because the sense for target time can be very useful with Modal verbs.

Example: The westerly wind 1. (rise) in the high seas. Its resilient body of air 2. (give) its first sough.

Answer: The westerly wind rises in the high seas. Its resilient body of air gives its first sough.

A. It 3. (come) to the land and 4. (feel) a difference. Now, the high ocean 5. (be) the past and the land 6. (become) the present.

2. The shore 7. (delineate) the past and the present. It 8. (be) the limit for both. The wind 9. (play) with the matter and 10. (frolic) into eddies.

.

3. The wester 11. (swirl), when the thought about the future 12. (come) to it. The ocean N13. (be) the future to it. The shoreland N14. (be) the future to it, either. Where 15. (be) the future?

4. Mountain peaks 16. (shine) their snowy cool in the moonlight. The wester 17. (get) there before the day 18. (begin)? The wester 19. (set) its course to the mountain range.

5. The shoreland 20. (change) from the wester’s present to the wester’s past. Then, there 21. (be) something indivisible and intermediate about the present. The mountains 22. (be) the wester’s present, if the wester 23. (get) there.

We can take our story into the grammatical PAST. Please try to focus on the verb WILL.

Answer: The westerly wind rose in the high seas. Its resilient body of air gave its first sough.

1. It came to the land and felt a difference. Now, the high Ocean was the past and the land had become the present.

2. The shore delineated the past and the present. It was the limit for both. The wind wasplaying with the matter and frolicking into eddies.

Please mind: we can use the variable ON for an activity that gets on the map, while something else is happening: The wester wasswirling, when the thought about the future came to it.

We can envision our grammatical logic as interconnected.

We can merge our variables IN and TO. What is going to be our new, merged variable? The merger might be not as simple as a wester frolicking into eddies. Feel welcome to further journey.

It is good to set own goals and ambitions reasonably, but high: even if we do not get where we have set our objective, we get higher when we aim high, rather than low. Linguistic targets that might compare with Rocky Mountain peaks are reasonably high.

Exercise 37. We have our time frames for our guidance. Overall, we can choose between the Simple and the Perfect, in the PAST time compass. Please put the verb in the form for the grammatical PAST extent and give the arrow cue along with the mapping value. In language, we can seek inspiration with words. Let it be a simple chair this time.

Example: His parents (surrender)□ his place in the kindergarten. When Ms. Duncan (suggest) □ playing the musical chairs, Art (throw)□ in three right hand gloves. One of them (belong)□ to Ms. Duncan.

If we feel we could be better off writing entire answers, we can do so without looking to others. Writing belongs with human fine motor behavior. It is important in integrating language skills.

Answer: His parents surrendered his place in the kindergarten. When Ms. Duncan suggested playing the musical chairs, Art threw in three right hand gloves. One of them belonged to Ms. Duncan.

1. Despite his early predilection for challenge, he (get)□ himself a chairborne job. His chair (have)□ an advantage, however. He (design)└┘ it for use by one person exactly

2. Originally, he never (expect)□ of a woman to fill a chair. He (change)□ his mind when he (perceive),□ at about 26, that the strategy almost (reduce)└┘ him to his local club armchair, for dialogue.

3. He (marry) Jin in summer. They (spend)□ their countryside honeymoon mostly bringing the chairs from the garden. His friend Jalen (persuade)□ him to go on a vacation, in a better weather. They (choose)□ Amtrak to journey. Art and Jin first (meet)□ in a parlor car. Face to face with their notebooks, they (realize)□ they were actually chatting with each other over the Unlimited (!)

4. He soon (begin) □ developing his son-in-law attitude. Eva, his mother-in-law, (love)□ to say nobody shouldlet predecessors set the measure for the chair. Art (have)□ a reservation. His job (be)└┘ by principle like trying to keep someone on the edge of the seat with soft overboiled noodles. Jalen Seges (agree)□ that office routines (take)□ some time.

5. Art (know)□ that contending Eva’s arguments (be)□ suggestive of trying verbally to captivate a moving rock. Incontrovertibility (belong)□ with the Seges family ethos. A Yale graduate married to a Harvard grad, Ms. Seges (be)└┘ a woman of resolve, throughout her life. She (talk) table and chairs right when junior (begin)□ preschool. Her grandchildren wouldgo to best schools, to fill their grandparents’ walnut bobbin chairs.

*****

Art is thinking about a new job. Routines of predetermined beginning and end are not his nature. He realizes his responsibilities and, at the same time, he knows he deserves a career of his own. Eva’s work has been her passion. She wants to support the family, and he feels like speaking with her. With language work, we also can learn to negotiate: we contend the arguments, and not the people, for that.

Could we look up the Amtrak Unlimited, Yale, and Harvard over the Internet? Can we comprehend words like “incontrovertibility”, if our dictionary does not have them? There are sample hints down this page.

Exercise 38. Please tell the time frames and map values (ON, IN, or TO), along with the grammatical time (PRESENT, PAST, or FUTURE). We have the arrow cues with every task, if we need them.

Example: Her father 1. (be) a nibmeister. She 2. (have) a clear taste for good quality since she 3. (be) a little girl.

A. When she was in her early teens, she 4. (make) a miniature book. It 5. (be) three inches square.

B. She 6. (keep) the book for her thinktionary. She still 7. (happen) to add words to it, though she 8. (make) many more such books.

.

C. A young girl, she 9. (put) her miniature book in her jacket pocket and 10. (go) to sit by the river. Whenever a word 11. (come) to her mind, she 12. (write) it in with her miniature fountain pen.

D. Her handwriting 13. (change) a little, since then. By and large, she 14. (adjust) her letters to the size of her notebook. One day, she 15. (engross) her future husband’s name in her thinktionary. His name 16. (remain) the only word to take a whole page out of the alphabetical order.

E. Chantelle 17. (have) a collection of pens. Her favored inkwells 18. (be) glass, silver, and pewter. Her first book 19. (tell) about a girl’s language of the heart.

*****

Form (16) also might be “his name remains”: there are no universal rules to govern contexts, and we are free to decide on our own, dependent on our cognitive mapping.

Miniature books belong with arts. Their scopes may be the same as of standard volumes. They are smaller because they are miniaturized. Chantelle’s miniature book is one of the biggest sizes ― it is three inches square.

The “thinktionary” is a coined word. We can compare it with the word “dictionary”. Our exercises will have more and more words, especially if we size up Part One. Good language skills require vast mental lexicons, and these can be creative or multilingual. We can expand our lexicons with small notebooks of words and word associations. Everyone can have own thinktionaries. Have we met Chantelle already?

HINTS FROM THE KEY

We do not have to use Past Perfect forms whenever anything happened earlier or preceded something else. We would need millions of past tense forms to speak about Old English, thinking only about the days and years since those times.

Amtrak Unlimited is a forum for Amtrak passengers.

Harvard and Yale are two very prominent and competitive American universities.

We can interpret incontrovertibility by the word build. The American Heritage online will show the word in·con·tro·vert·ible and explain that the verb to con·tro·vert may mean “to raise arguments against; voice opposition to”.

We look up the parts in– and –ibility. The particle in– may negate. The particle –ibility can work with a noun and connote “an ability, inclination, or suitability”.

However, the particle in– may also mean “having the function of”. We can look up words such as “inbound” or “incant”.Inflammable materials or substances can be highly flammable.

The verb “to controvert” derives from the noun controversy. The noun consists of the particles contro– and versus.Contro– or contra– can connote “against, opposite, contrasting”. The particle in– does not work in the sense “into” or “within” with the particle con–.

The American Heritage dictionary can tell that incontrovertibility relates to the adjective incontrovertible, meaning “impossible to dispute, unquestionable”.In·con·tro·vert·i·ble·ness is another, probable form. We can guess that Art Veltall’s mother-in-law may be a person difficult — but not impossible — to persuade or influence. His wife Jin is some personality, too.

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Recent Posts: Teresa Pelka

I have never interpreted the Great Seal Novus Ordo Seclorum as a New Order of the Ages. I realized my comprehension was different from the official, over the Internet. With Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence at my side, I will try to defend my view: the Seal says a new nation has become.

In most simple terms, philology is a study of words. Words that get to be spoken, words that get to be written, words as they happen to become human thinking matter. Words in texts old and words in texts new: if you think about this profession, you need to be fond of words.

Human brains need to be live structures for grammar, and these have simultaneous processes. When we use the Present Simple, our paths for the Perfect Progressive for example do not become “switched off”. Are there really “stative verbs”?